Bilkheim

Bilkheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a community belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde – in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.GeographyLocationBilkheim lies roughly 13 km northeast of Montabaur in a basin, right on the boundary with Hesse. The Schafbach rises above the village, flows aongside Bilkheim and empties into the Salzbach. The community belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Wallmerod, a kind of collective municipality.HistoryIn 1345, Bilkheim had its first documentary mention by the nobleman Dietrich von Brambach zu Neurod under the name Bullincheym.In 1664, the moated castle of Neuroth was built by the House of Walderdorff as a widow’s seat. A gravestone from the year 1695 with the placename Bilkheim on it was once found.In 1828, the first urn graves from the Hallstatt culture (700-500 BC) were discovered on the “heath”. From these grave finds there is support for the belief that there must already have been settlers in the Bilkheim area well over 2,000 years ago.These finds are in part displayed or archived at the Museum in Wiesbaden.In 1901, a school was built in Bilkheim, which is now privately owned.A railway, since converted into a cycling and hiking path, once linked Bilkheim to the rest of the world as of 1910.